Improvement in lam p-chi m n ey cleaners



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

MARTIN E. KEN'YoN, oE rEovIDENoE, EIIoDE IsLAND.

IMPROVEMENT lNilLAMP-CHIMNEY CLEANERS. I

Specification Vforming part ofLetters Patent No. 315,939, dated July 22, 1862.

To all whom it may concern,.-

Be it known that I, MARTIN R. KENYON, of Providence, in the county of Providence and State of Rhode Island, have invented a new and Improved Lamp Chimney Cleaner for Cleaning and Polishing the Interior Surface of Glass Lamp-Chimneys5 and I do hereby declare that the followingis a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making part of this specication, in which- Figure lisa full-sized representation of the said cleaner. "Fig. 2 represents the cleaner within a glass lainp-chimney, showing the manner in which the elastic fingers I I I, drie., adapt themselves to the contour of the chimney. Figs. 3, 4, A5, 6, and 7 are details, which are referred to in the course of the description.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures.

My invention consists, first, in the use of a series of elastic fingers, covered with worsted, cotton yarn, chamoiseskin, or other suitable material, and so arranged upon a suitable stein or rod that they will yield in a direction parallel with such stem or rod, and thereby exert a yielding pressure against the interior surface of a lamp-chimney and conform to the shape thereof 5 second, in the peculiar arrangement of two sets of such fingers, as shown in Fig. 1-thatisto say, one end of each finger being fixed to the stein and the other being loose, the loose ends of each set extending toward the fixed ends of the other set; third, in combination with two sets ofelastic fingers so arranged, two sliding disks arranged with a spiral spring encircling the stem in such a manner as to press the said disksV against the fixed ends of the elastic fingers, and thereby I spread the loose ends asunder and give additional elasticity to the said lingers.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I will proceed to describe the saine.

In Fig. 1, I I I, dsc., are the elastic fingers, which consist of flat springs t, of' steel or rolled brass,-as shown in Figs. 3 and 5, covered with worsted or cotton yarn wound thereon, onwith a sheath of chamoisskin. If the said springs t are first covered with cotton braid, after the manner of covering the springwire of hoopskirts, the yarn or leather may be fixed more securely thereon. The elastic fingers are firmly fixed at one end to the stein h by means of the collars m fn., in each of which is formed a triangular hole, between the fiat sides of which and a triangular shape formed upon each end of the stem 7i the ends of the springs 'i' are held, as shown in Figs. 3, 5, and 6, the stem being necessarily formed in two pieces to admit of this construction, and being united at a in the long collar m, Fig. 6. There aie two sets of three (8) fingers each, one set being fixed in the collar a and the other in the collar m, and they are so arranged upon the stein that the loose ends of one set of fingers extend iii the space between and toward the fixed ends of the other set, which enables the said fingers to act independently of cach other upon an interior surface of' equal or varying diameter in either direction.

In addition to the elasticity of the ngers I, I employ the force ofthe spiral spring S,which encircles the stein between the two sets of fingers and exerts a forcein each direction against the disks it, as shown in Fig. l. These `disks are thus pressed against the under side of each set of fingers, near their junction with the stein, and are by this means spread farther asundcr than they would be by their own elasticity. At the saine time the fingers are prevented from bending short near the collar and thereby easily broken, any undue strain being borne by the disks t, supported by the elasticity of the spiral spring S. Y Y

Upon the stem h is fixed a suitable handle, G, by which the cleaner is revolved or otherwise operated when inserted in the chimney, the intention being to compress the elastic fingers with one hand sufficiently to make them enter the mouth ofv the chimney, and while holding the chimney in one hand to revolve and work the cleaner with the other hand, the elasticity of the fingers I causing them to conform to the contour of the chimney so effectually that the entire inner surface may be reached and cleaned.

It is obvious that the elastic fingers may be arranged, with the stern h and its handle, in a variety of ways suited to the different purposes for which an implement of this kind may be used. Among others, I have conceived the idea of uniting the loose ends of the two seis of fingers to each other in a hingejoint,as

shown in Fig. 7, and making the collar m to slide upon the stem, whereby the said lingers may be expanded precisely like an umbrella, which arrangement will be found better adapted to cleaning the interior of globular-shaped lamp-shades, lautern-glasses,and the like than the arrangement rst described.

I have also conceived the idea of arranging a third set of elastic fingers, attached to the collar n, with their loose ends extending upward in the same direction with th ose attached to the collar m, and bearing against an elastic ball or a similar device fixed upon a continuation of the stem h, to keep thesaid loose ends asnnder, for the purpose of cleaning the upper (straight) portion of a lamp-chimney, while the other two seis of fingers are cleaning the swelling portion of the same chimney.

Modilications of these arrangements may be usefully applied to the cleaning of bottles and glassware generally. i

Having thus described the construction of my improved lainp-chimuey cleaner, what I claim therein as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is*

l. Aseries of elastic wiping-'ngers, each of .which is fixed at one end and is loose at the other end, which by its own elasticity acts independently of the others and exerts a yielding pressure'against the interior walls of a lampchimney when placed therein, substantially as herein shown and described, for the purpose specified.

2. The arrangement of two sets of such ingers so that the loose ends of one set of fingers extend toward the fixed ends of the other set of iingers, substantially as herein shown and described, for the purpose specified. Y

3. In combination with two sets of elastic iingers so arranged,two slidin g disks arranged with a spiral spring or an equivalent force to press the said disks or other sliding piece toward the fixed ends of each set of fingers, substantially as shown and described, for the purpose specied.

MARTIN R. KENYON.

WTitnesses:

N. HENRY STEVENS, ALBERT BQWER. 

